Wetware

by Craig Nova

As a programmer for Galapagos Wetware, Hal Briggs is responsible for writing the genetic code for simple, efficient creatures to be employed in menial jobs–sweeping streets or washing dishes. But the demands for “wetware” are changing, and Briggs is given a project that calls for more sophisticated clients are demanding more human appearance and behavior.

As the project progresses, Briggs finds himself endowing the new models with more than the specifications dictate, giving them distinct personalities and talents and highly developed acumens. When two of his pet projects, Jack and Kay, escape, Briggs reexamines their codes and makes a terrifying yet provocative discovery.

From Craig Nova, a master of the modern novel, comes a tale eerie in its vision of a future not far off, of a world precariously close to today’s.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

353 pages, Paperback

First published January 8, 2002

Reviews

[Stan Lanier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is there a more underappreciated writer in the United States than Craig Nova? Wetware has the atmosphere of Blade Runner in its plot, but it is the tackling of deeper human mysteries that makes Mr. Nova's work resonate with profound moral beauty at times. At the core of this novel is the question: why do we care about anyone besides ourselves? Put another way, Mr. Nova tells stories to ask what does it mean to be human. Do yourself a favor-- do not neglect the novels of Craig Nova.

[Owain Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

M John Harrison once said that if you are writing in a genre you have to find out what that genre is scared of and use it against it. Nova writing Scifi had the same idea. Wetware is a strange, slow book that revels in beauty and loneliness and has some stuff to say about humans and their obessesions, how the things we think we want aren't really what we need, and the things we actually need are much simpler than we realise. Exquisite!

[Travis Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was my first exposure to Nova's work, and I only have about 40 minutes until I have to be at work so this is gonna be a short review. Basically, it's like Philip K. Dick if he could write dialogue and without the sometimes taxing overlays of religiosity and paranoia. The sentences keep coming in a clipped, unpretentious way that makes the "noir" references I've seen to Nova's work make sense. Nova's also capable of very poetic and insightful prose that can catch you slightly off-guard, after so much efficient plot-forwarding. In other words, I dug it, and look forward to reading "The Constant Heart", his latest.

[Doug Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

really weird. some parts were interesting, some were hot, some sad.

[Frederick Bodine · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK. Took forever to read, wanted to know what happened but just so damn boring! If the author removed every time he wrote "he said" or "she said" the book would be 100 pages less. This was a short story that could have been good but instead was stretched so thin with extra blah blah and the things that could have been interesting were left out and kept vague. At one point near the end you find out a major character is dead and there is nothing about why or how it happened. I get the gist of it but it was a major no-no to me. I see the story in it, I like the story that I see in it. But I can't get past the filler and lack of detail to important story lines. I seen a review that likened it to Blade Runner...no, other than artificial humans there is no comparison! If you pass this book by you are not going to miss out on much but I always say you should still find out for yourself. I won't be reading anything else from this author anytime soon!

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nova creates a plausible, cold, gritty, frightening future in which his protagonist, Briggs, in his workaday job as a corporate technologist, fabricates two humans into which he secretly encodes traits that humanize them beyond his remit and might one day serve his need for human connection, but he’s not the only one with the idea of enhancing them. One night the two escape from their tanks in the lab. The author weaves a compelling tapestry of intrigue, ambition, love and longing, the enormity of our individual isolation and the lengths we will go to connect with others to overcome it. Nova uses skillfully the latitude science fiction offers to explore the human instinct for survival and the will to power in an otherworldly setting that has echoes of our current experience with more and more powerful AIs.

[Maddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Made me think, cringe, and roll my eyes, all in equal measure. A curious premise.

[Dana Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I honestly don't know what to think about this one. I had a hard time following, but at the same time, I kept wanting to continue to read. 🤷‍♀️

[Stephanie Jobe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this one for a different reason than usual, the author is going to be one of my professors in the fall. I’m not a huge science fiction person, as far as I usually go is Ender’s Game or maybe some Anne McCaffrey depending on where you draw the line. The descriptions are beautiful. The futuristic world is believable and disturbing. There is a morbid beauty to the entire thing. There was a bit more sexually explicitness than I anticipated but it suited. It was a bit hard to get into until over halfway through when all the strands really started coming together. In the end I was left with a sense of beauty and hope and terror, ironically description that apply very accurately to Kay and Jack and what Briggs was trying to achieve. I always forget to talk about the story. Briggs is an engineer of sorts charged with writing the genetic code for creating human beings with specific purposes. The job he is charged with is carried out, but he makes changes along the way for the sake of beauty you might say. In the end though I think the reader is left with questions similar to those Briggs might be asking himself: Was it worth it? Was it safe? Will it happen again?

[Spencer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mr. Nova's characterization is what made this book keep going. The reviews I read about the book said somewhat the same. However, the pacing of this book is far too slow until the final ten chapters of the book where things go far too fast and seem not to match the pacing of the first part of the book. I find the world interesting and Craig Nova lends the world description that feels damp and like the title of the book I could sense the dryness and dampness of the world. Though, it would have been nice for the world to have taken on just a bit more dynamic life, it felt a little 2-Dimensional to me.

[Anh Ta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book thoroughly engaging. The characters are convincingly human, even the ones who aren't as human as we are. I found the evocation of their needs particularly moving. We all deal with loneliness and purpose. Craig Nova relates the struggle with both in a strange and fascinating near-future, near reality setting. I loved it. If you like intelligent sci-fi, then definitely give this a read.

[Barry Bridges · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the Philip K Dick tradition without the paranoia. In the future where people who do unpleasant jobs have to be manufactured.

I find it interesting how Nova paints scenic word pictures as both "natural" humans and "manufactured" humans pass through the environment, using the passing scenery to show that they are the same without passing a moral judgment.

[Karenbike Patterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part Science Fiction, part a novel set in the future, there is a common dilemma of what is man's responsibility to what he may create. In the end, the two "humans" Briggs creates draw the conclusion that they were slaves. This novel was bewildering but thought provoking.

[Thomas Litchford]

I just never felt that urgency to keep turning the pages. I've heard great things about Nova, so maybe this one was just a miss.

[Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pedestrian modern/urban/techno SF.

[Zed · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sci-fi foray into "programming" new humans.